Sea Hunt Scuba: Underwater Adventure

Are you curious about the unknown? Willing to take a deep plunge to find out about what lurks under the sea? Ready to view marine life up close and personal?

Maybe it is the right time to try scuba diving. St. Augustine has a dive shop called Sea Hunt Scuba, complete with a 13-foot deep indoor pool, instructors and all the equipment needed to become a certified scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) diver.

Sea Hunt Scuba is owned by Steve Bohanan, 42, and managed by Curtis Deyo, 44. Both men are divers and instructors with a combined 50 years of diving experience.

"There is not much money in it; you gotta love it and work hard," said Bohanan.

Bohanan moved to St. Augustine in 1992 with his family and operated a dive store in Jacksonville. In 1998, he bought property in St. Augustine and had Sea Hunt Scuba built in 2000. The scuba shop was originally located in the Sebastian Harbor Marina.

In the store there is equipment for sale and a large pool for instruction.

Anyone can snorkel. You just take your snorkel and blow. Scuba diving, however, allows a person to explore deeper into the water.

What is the hardest thing to learn while scuba diving? "Mask clearing," said Bohanan.

He believes that scuba diving is easier than snorkeling.

"Diving allows a person to remain neutrally buoyant," said Bohanan. This means that a person does not float or sink.

There are many different levels of diving classes, from the basic survival skills to advanced skills and rescue diving. The most modern techniques are taught, and the employees at Sea Hunt work with the St. Johns Sheriff's Department dive team and lifeguards.

They also host two to three diving trips per month and two large trips a year. People like to dive for many reasons.

Bohanan explained that "you meet a lot of nice people on the dive trips." He said that they share a love of nature.

Bohanan accompanies customers on all trips. "You get an underwater guide, dive master and service tech included in the trip," he said.

An average dive is 50 to 60 feet deep and lasts 40 minutes to one hour. Bohanan often takes his day trippers to the southeast coast of Florida because the St. Augustine area has seven months of off-season diving. When they go to the Keys, the depth of the dives is 15 to 20 feet. On an average day trip, the group usually will get in three dives.

Over the years, he has seen all types of marine life -- lemon sharks, hammerheads, whales and stingrays. When asked about the Steve Irwin tragedy with a ray, Bohanan remarked, "He was in the wrong place, at the wrong second."

Bohanan and his wife and eight divers recently returned from a three-week trip to Fiji and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

"To have the ability to see what we have seen, it is unbelievable," said Bohanan.

Correction to last week's article about Avia Aero Services: There are more 412,000 members the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. An incorrect number was published. Also, the address is Suite I-2, Marvin's Garden Business Center, Bunnell.

Darlene Schnittker writes Talking Business. If you have an idea for a story, you may contact her at darmacs@bellsouth.net